February 2 election: Legal fight against poll 'not over'

[webfact]

FEBRUARY 2 ELECTION
Legal fight against poll 'not over'
Anuphan Chantana,
Pimnara Pradubwit
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Democrats will continue pursuing legal action against the government even though the Constitutional Court on Wednesday threw out their petition asking it to void the February 2 election.

Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said that while the court saw no basis to hear the case, the Democrats would continue to work on it.

If the government and the Election Commission (EC) could agree that the February 2 election was vexed by many legal issues, it would be a good opportunity to start talking about a solution without having to go to court, he said.

Democrat legal expert Wiratana Kalayasiri said some of the February 2 poll results have been announced, although unofficially, while balloting could not be held in 28 constituencies where there were no candidates, so the election failed to meet secrecy and equality conditions as millions of people did not have a chance to vote.

These could be reasons to abrogate the election, just as the April 2, 2006 election was nullified by the Constitutional Court.

The fact that the House would not be able to convene within 30 days as required by the Constitution would be another reason. The government had also intentionally insisted on the February 2 date rather that allow it to be postponed as it wanted to cling to power, Wiratana said. That could be deemed as acquiring power in a way that is unconstitutional.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she had assigned her deputy Phongthep Thepkanjana to discuss with the EC how to solve the problems related to the election.

The EC has proposed that elections be held in April in constituencies where voters could not cast votes on February 2 and in the advance voting on January 26, but Pheu Thai wants it to happen sooner, she said.


-- The Nation 2014-02-14

[Red Snake]

Desperate times for Abhisit.

[Chang_paarp]

The Democrats need to understand they have made themselves totally irrelevant by not participating in the election. I would guess they are eligible for de-registration as a political party for failing to garner enough votes in the election.

[Ricardo]

I agree that Abhisit made a mistake, in telling his party not to stand, up to him.

But it can't be true to say that "they are eligible for de-registration as a political party for failing to garner enough votes in the election.", because in that case, no newly-formed party would ever be able to stand either, since they too would never have gained any votes at the previous election ?

[rametindallas]

How can free and fair elections be held when the ruling party declares a State of Emergency three days before the vote? The Thai constitution clearly states the election must be held country-wide and on the same day. They must nullify the April 2nd election and hold new, country-wide elections. This government is run by a convicted criminal and his policies are carried out by criminals who behave as criminals. They don't want to give up power lest they be prosecuted for their criminality. The courts will prove their criminality and they will either go to prison or. like their coward-in-chief, flee the country into 'self-imposed; exile.

[MaxLee]

The Democrats need to understand they have made themselves totally irrelevant by not participating in the election. I would guess they are eligible for de-registration as a political party for failing to garner enough votes in the election.

What's an election where one party will win like a given freepass via vote buying the rest of Thailand,....??? FACE oriented powers like Thailand use that so called majority vote election as an excuse to justify their unethical Black lie corruption...

[h90]

How can free and fair elections be held when the ruling party declares a State of Emergency three days before the vote? The Thai constitution clearly states the election must be held country-wide and on the same day. They must nullify the April 2nd election and hold new, country-wide elections. This government is run by a convicted criminal and his policies are carried out by criminals who behave as criminals. They don't want to give up power lest they be prosecuted for their criminality. The courts will prove their criminality and they will either go to prison or. like their coward-in-chief, flee the country into 'self-imposed; exile.

And there were enough rumors of fraud and a lot proof of vote buying.

[rickirs]

So Suthep's new strategy is to get the government and the Election Commission (EC) to agree that the February 2 election was "vexed" and throw out the results? There definitely was vexing but it lays with Suthep. His passion for politics should be respected but I think the time has come for him to take a serious vacation.

[virtualtraveller]

This election will never stick, I'm willing to put money on it. There are so many flaws with it that contravene the constitution for a fair election. There won't be a parliament quorum for months. If a govt is formed the house will have a 80% dominance from the ruling party, that is a democratic regression. We should be asking ourselves if the Democrats decisions to boycott was reasonable, and for that ask the 500,000 people who took to the streets in the past two months. Better still ask the majority who didn't vote for a party in the last election. A govt selected through a minority process will never have legitimacy.

[Ulic]

What a laugher, the group that blocks candidates from registering and voters from polling stations wants the courts to

nullify the election because the people did not get a chance to vote because of them. You could not make this stuff

up even in Hollywood. Even funnier is the fact that they will probably win as judges can be bought and common sense

rarely comes into play.

[Scamper]

The Constitution Court's ruling was based on Article 68. A ruling based on Article 108 will undoubtedly have much more traction, as the timeline indicated in that article is already not met by these circumstances. And Article 7 is poised to go into effect on April 1. Its stipulations are clear. The Yingluck administration is on the losing end of a constitutional battle on more than one front.

[Dogmatix]

The Democrats need to understand they have made themselves totally irrelevant by not participating in the election. I would guess they are eligible for de-registration as a political party for failing to garner enough votes in the election.

This has already been tried without success. A petition to have the party dissolved for undermining democracy by not participating in the 2006 elections was dismissed by the Constitutional Court which ruled that parties have an absolute right to decide which constituencies to contest or to contest none of them.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Dogmatix

[Dogmatix]

It seems the court was correct in dismissing the petition under Section 68. Even it was a pointless waste of B3.8bn to proceed with the elections on 2 Feb it can hardly be construed as an attempt to overthrown the democratic system, since they actually followed the constitution to the letter, despite knowing it would be pointless.

Getting over 3 more pitfalls will be much harder. Section 198 is clearly an issue, as is the timeline to convene parliament within 30 days of the election and elect a PM 30 days after that. Then there is the issue of re-opening for registration of candidates without a royal decree and after most of the election has already taken place and the results leaked. Issuing a royal decree would likely be interpreting by the court as unconstitutional and/or having the effect of annulling the previous royal decree.

The odds of surviving all of these are virtually nil.

[Gweiloman]

It seems the court was correct in dismissing the petition under Section 68. Even it was a pointless waste of B3.8bn to proceed with the elections on 2 Feb it can hardly be construed as an attempt to overthrown the democratic system, since they actually followed the constitution to the letter, despite knowing it would be pointless.

Getting over 3 more pitfalls will be much harder. Section 198 is clearly an issue, as is the timeline to convene parliament within 30 days of the election and elect a PM 30 days after that. Then there is the issue of re-opening for registration of candidates without a royal decree and after most of the election has already taken place and the results leaked. Issuing a royal decree would likely be interpreting by the court as unconstitutional and/or having the effect of annulling the previous royal decree.

The odds of surviving all of these are virtually nil.

If you are right (though I doubt it), Thailand will never ever be able to hold any more elections in the future (unless the constitution is shall we say, changed). After all, two can play the same game and the reds should be able to cause more disruptions to the polling process than Suthep's team.

[Gweiloman]

How can free and fair elections be held when the ruling party declares a State of Emergency three days before the vote? The Thai constitution clearly states the election must be held country-wide and on the same day. They must nullify the April 2nd election and hold new, country-wide elections. This government is run by a convicted criminal and his policies are carried out by criminals who behave as criminals. They don't want to give up power lest they be prosecuted for their criminality. The courts will prove their criminality and they will either go to prison or. like their coward-in-chief, flee the country into 'self-imposed; exile.

And there were enough rumors of fraud and a lot proof of vote buying.

Sounds like you are getting more desperate than Abe even.

[ikurauni]

Everything is joke from the beginning. The farmers are the ultimate victims. This country has been rules by rich people and this is the Thai tradition.

[seajae]

I think the next few weeks are going to be very interesting, there is a lot going on in the background that could swing things either way.

[Mrgk]

How can free and fair elections be held when the ruling party declares a State of Emergency three days before the vote? The Thai constitution clearly states the election must be held country-wide and on the same day. They must nullify the April 2nd election and hold new, country-wide elections. This government is run by a convicted criminal and his policies are carried out by criminals who behave as criminals. They don't want to give up power lest they be prosecuted for their criminality. The courts will prove their criminality and they will either go to prison or. like their coward-in-chief, flee the country into 'self-imposed; exile.

What makes the Thai opposition such a dislikable bunch is summarized in the post above. It´s not just that they actively try to sabotage elections by preventing people from voting, closing down polling places, etc. That´s run of the mill third-world stuff.

Rather, it´s the combination of their thugishness with their simultaneous claims to be representing the "rule of law" and relentless insistance that their opponents must adhere to every last paragraph of the law, real as well as imagined (for the Thai opposition is not short on legal creativity), that makes them such an "interesting" group of people.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Mrgk